Safety-cage for water-gages.



E. SCHULZ.

SAFETY GAGE FOR WATER GASES.

APPLIOATION FILED AUG. 15, 191s.

1,126,301 Patena M1126, 1915.

EMIL SCHULZ, OF ALTDAMM, GERMANY.

SAFETY-CAGE FOR WATEBI-GAGES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 26, 191115.

Application led August 15, 1913. Serial No. 784,934.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, EMIL SCHULZ, a subject of the King of Prussia,residing at No. 28 Stargarderstrasse, Altdamm, inthe Kingdom of Prussia,German Empire, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inSafety-Cages for Water-Gages, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to' an improved safety-cage for water-gages,destined to be employed in connection with steam-bollers of any kind,but particularly with marineboilers. The means hitherto employed forpreventing accidents occurring to the attendants of the boiler owing tothe bursting of a water-gage do not afford sufficient security; theygenerally consist of a casing of strong glass or of a wire-nettingsurrounding the water-gage; but in the case of the gage burstingsuddenly under the high pressure of the steam, the glass caslng will bebroken in pieces and the wire-netting will be torn and the shivers ofglass, mixed up with the pieces of wire and Wlth hot water and vaporwill lbe hurled into the face and against the body of the attendant, adanger constantly menacing the members of the body and even the life ofthe enginedriver. The safety cages consisting of wire-netting or thelike, besides, are objectionable for the reason of greatly encumberingthe ready and clear sight of the level of the water in the gage-glass.

The object of my present invention is to provide a safety cage whichwill offer perfect security to the attendants in the case of the gageglass bursting.

The safety cage of my invention lconsists of an open, semi-circularframe surrounding the front part of the gage-glass and a lxind ofVenetian blind connected to the open front of said frame, the said blindbeing so constructed as to normally allow of ready inspection of thegage-glass to ascertain at every moment the actual level of the water.As soon, however, as an inside pressure, such as will occur instantlywhen the gage-glass bursts, actsl against the said blind, it willautomatically shut up and prevent the boiling water and shivers of glassfrom being hurled about, and the vapor escaping will also be preventedfrom issuing to the front in violent jets where it might injure theattendants. The said safety-cage, furthermore, is so constructed as toprevent shivers of glass and hot water stood, I have illustrated thesame in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 represents a front-elevation of the improved safety cageaccording to my invention; Fig. 2 is a side-elevation of the same; Fig.3 is a similar side-elevation with the blind shown in the closed state;Fig. 4 is a sectional View of the safety-cage with the blind opened, andFig. 5 a sectional view with the blind shut up.

The safety cage consists of a strong frame a, comprising two frame sidesa', a2 connected at foot by a bottom piece b, and at top by a head-piecez'.

A series of lugs n are formed on the front edge of each of the twoframe-sides a', a2, and through the said lugs or eyes project thepivot-pins d, and e, the bent rear ends of said pins being,respectively, secured to the left and to the right side of semi-circularblind or shutter-slats c, acting, in their totality, in the same way asa Venetian blind. The pivot-pins d, e, of the said slats c, are solocated at or near the lower edge of the slats as to normally make thesaid slats turn with their upper edges toward the inside of the frame aor toward the gage glass, the said gage-glass m being indicated bydotted lines in Fig. 1. The normal tendency of the said slats c to restin this position retains them in the normally open or inclined position,as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, so that the gage-glass m is open to the viewof the attendant for ready inspection at any time. The pivot-pins e ofthe slats c (Figs. 1, 4 and 5) have their free ends bent to act as abrake and stop for preventing the slats c from being accidentally turnedin to their closed position as shown in Figs. 3 and 5, the saidhook-shaped ends of the pivots e having a bearing contact against theframe side a, and the points of said pivot pins resting in a slightgroove Z formed in the frame side a2, the web o, serving as a stop tolimit the inward motion of the said slats c.

It will be easily seen, that any pressure working against the insidesurface of the curved slats c, willat once cause said slats to turn ontheir pivot-pins d, e, and assume the position shown in Figs. 3 and 5.The upper end of the topmost slat c will bear against the curved insidesurface of the toppiece z', and the lower edge of each slat slightlyoverlaps the upper edge of the next lower slat 0 of the series; eachslat, then, will retain the next one below in its closed position, thusforming a continuous cover to the front-side of the frame a, whichallows of no shivers of glass, nor water, nor vapor from being thrownout from the bursting gage glass to the front of said cage.

Each of the frame-sides a, has a downwardly projecting arm f formed orsecured at or near its lower end and a corresponding arm f, formed orsecured to the top-piece z'. The said arms f and f are inserted througheyes in lugs 7L of the gage-glass carrier. latch g is pivoted to thelower end of each of said arms f and f. When the said arms have beenpassed through their corresponding lugs h, the said latches g are turnedinto the horizontal position, as shown in the lower part of Fig. 2, andthe frame or cage, thereby, is prevented from being accidentally thrownor disengaged from the gage-carrier. If the gage-glass m should burstnear its upper or its lower end, the fluid issuing from said gage-glasswould not act upon the entire inside surface of the open slats c, andpart of said slats would fail to shut up. To prevent such incompletefunction of the safety-device, means have been provided to secureuniform and complete shutting-up motion of the entire series of slats c,independent ofthe place where the actuating inside pressure happens tostrike against the surface of one or several slats. To obtain suchuniform motion, the said slats c are connected to each other by a rod rpivoted to the outer ends of parallel arms p, the opposite ends of whichare secured to the pivot pins d as shown in Fig. 4. Each slat c,accordingly, will transmit its forward, as well as its rearward motionto the Whole series of slats, and by this means the totality of theslats, forming a blind or shutter to the front of the frame a, will beforced to work together, thus causing the safety cage to form a positiveshield. The area offered to the inside pressure which may issue from thebursting gage-glass, being of considerable extent, and all of the slatsalways Working in unison, the action of the device will be reliable inany case. The series of slats being connected to each other to worktogether will also prevent any failure of one to act which might occurif the pivot-connection of one or the other slat should offer anyresistance owing to rust, dust or any obstacle.

The shape of the cage as well' as the details of construction andcombination of the sundry parts of the device 'might of course be variedaccording to the requirements, without departing from the leadingfeatures of the invention, as indicated by the claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a safety cage for water-gages, the combination with the gage-glasscarrier, of a frame and a blind covering the open front of said frame,said blind being composed of a plurality of slats overlapping each otherand so pivoted to the frame sides as to be automatically closed by asudden increase of pressure on theA inner side of the blind, and meanswhereby they are connected to each other to simultaneously open andclose, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In a safety-cage for water-gages, the combination with the gage-glasscarrier, of a frame comprising lateral frame sides, a bottom piece, atop-piece connecting the upper ends of the frame sides, a blindcomprising a plurality of slats covering the open front of said frameand so pivoted to the frame sides, as to be automatically closed by asudden increase of pressure on the inner side of the frame, and meansfor connecting the plurality of slats for simultaneous operation,substantially as and for the purpose set forth. g

3. In a safety-cage for water-gages, the combination of a framecomprising lateral frame sides, a bottom piece and a top-piececonnecting said frame sides, slats pivoted to said frame sides, arms towhich the pivotpins at one of the ends of said slats are rigf idlyconnected, means whereby said arms are connected to each other to makethe plurality of slats work in unison, and the pivot pins at the otherends of said slats being formed to act as a brake bearing against thelateral frame side, substantially as and for the purpose set forth. Y

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

EMIL SCHULZ.

Witnesses:

KASIMIR GoRoLARHowsKI, EMIL SCHMIDT.

